Announcements for the week of March 8, 2009

The Second Sunday of Lent
MISSION STATEMENT

The Church of the Holy Spirit (Episcopal) shares the love of Jesus through being a friendly community, participating in liturgically rich worship experiences, and by empowering individual ministries.

WORSHIP NEWS
WELCOME NEWCOMERS AND VISITORS Please feel free to join us at the communion rail when it is time to receive Holy Communion. Our ushers and any member will be happy to assist if you have any questions during our worship. Jesus loves you! We are glad you are here.

Weather and Office Hours: With the change in weather, it is once again time to remind you that if the Bellevue Schools are closed, the church office will be closed. To see if weather or road conditions impact our weekend services please check our website and watch KETV’s scrolling closures for the latest updates.

YOUTH

CHRISTIAN ED

Please remember we are offering a program for the children Sunday evenings. They eat with us and then from 6-7 we learn a song, do a craft and will start making instruments for our Palm Sunday Band. We also do a little bell practice. We had 5 children Sunday evening and would love more. We are making a “joyful noise!” it all starts at 5:30 pm with soup.

Bell Choir; The bells are here. We used them last Sunday night. We want to do two pieces for Easter. I need eight children, preferably 3-6th grade who will be here on Easter Sunday and will be able to begin practicing now. We will take a little younger and a little older for Easter if we need to. We may be completely inter-generational at Easter. Any teens or adults who might want to learn let me know. After Easter we will try and form the choir from the 3rd to 6th grade age group for an end of year performance. I know of three families who will not be here at Easter, and that takes at least three of the age group we are targeting. I believe for Easter we will have an inter-generational Bell Choir. I am truly excited. Questions? Contact Kristi.

Journey’s has left the building! But, we will be back next winter. Thanks to all of Holy Spirit for your hospitality, your support and your donations. Special thanks to Marcia Adams, Stephanie Russell-Heller for keeping our stomachs full and happy! Beth Mincer for donations and for being our chief shopper. Linda Wyant for sharing the kitchen and giving us refrigerator and freezer space, and for cleaning up after us on occasion. I may be prejudiced, but you are the greatest group of loving caring people I have ever had the privilege to be associated with. From the staff and all our wonderful youth we thank you. See you next year. Kristi Smith, Journeys Administrator.

A Message From Charlie! Hi everyone. Parents this is for you. First please say hello to all the children for me. I love seeing them and playing with them on Sundays. I am getting in a little trouble for playing when I am not supposed to be. Miss Linda, Mr. Alan or Miss Kristi need to be asked if I can play. So parents and kids just remember to ask. If no one is there it’s probably not play time. The kids are doing so well, sharing and helping others, BUT, please don’t leave the children alone if you go to a meeting or if you are going to be away from the undercroft for more than a few minutes. Thank you, be good, God loves you and so do I!

COMMUNICATIONS

Flame Deadline: Don’t forget! Information for the Flame must be in by today, March 8.
Millennium Development Goals*

Eight steps toward healing a hurting world.
In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were established to reduce, by the year 2015, the number of people who live in extreme poverty. Developed by the international community including leaders from 191 countries, the eight goals were endorsed by development institutions and religious bodies, and have galvanized unprecedented energy and effort. Each goal works toward alleviating poverty and disease by establishing targets that will directly improve people’s lives. Help isn’t on the way. It’s already there. Episcopal Relief & Development reached more than 2 million people in over 40 countries last year. Rather than impose “one size fits all” solutions, Episcopal Relief & Development supports local, long term initiatives that address poverty, hunger, disease, economic development and disaster response where the need is greatest. Our partnership with the worldwide Church creates opportunities to serve communities in some of the most remote areas of the world, as well as in urban environments where extreme poverty persists. In many of these places, the Church is often one of the few institutions people trust and turn to for help. “Go with the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they have. Build on what they know. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say, ‘We have done this ourselves.’” Lau Tsu, Chinese Philosopher, 700 B.C.
* from the Episcopal Relief and Development website

Daughters of the King: Thanks for a great meeting last week. Remember to mark your calendar for every first Sunday. We'll meet after the l0:30 service in the meeting room. The minutes are in our mailbox in the hall for you to read if you were absent. Everyone should pick up a prayer list, too. Sorry it's late this time.

Lay Readers: It's that time again! This year we will need a lot of volunteers for the services planned for Holy Week. Please check the bulletin board and sign up for everything you can. Thanks. (Any ?'s? Ask Mary Ruth 291-7416)

A big thank you to those who generously donated food to fill our shopping cart last week. March donations not only help the hungry; they also help the Bellevue Food Pantry receive money from a grant which is distributed on the basis of food items donated. Is anyone interested in regularly taking the food items to the pantry? It’s very conveniently located in the parking lot of Immanuel Lutheran Church (near Stella’s). See Jan Sinram if you’re interested.

Do you need another Lenten devotion? If so, this is a good time to join us in Wednesday morning Bible class. We are just beginning to talk about how Christians read the psalms and will soon begin reading those psalms themselves. We welcome anyone who wants to join in gaining better knowledge of these beautiful poems. We meet after the Eucharist on Wednesday. Why not join in that celebration, too? Eucharist is at 9:30, class about 10:15.

Dinner in Abraham’s Tent: On March 27, the Omaha Tri-Faith Initiative will host a community dinner at the Qwest Center. Speakers from the Jewish, Muslim and Episcopal faiths (including our Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori) will address the development of the Omaha campus and ongoing efforts to increase our understanding of our shared heritage. Beginning March 1, registration for this event will be open to the general public. Therefore, if you are interested in attending, please go to the website trifaith.org and sign up by the end of February to ensure you have a seat at the table.

Rae E. Whitney Hymn Celebration will be April 23-26 in Omaha. For times and places please see the flyer on the bulletin board in the undercroft.

Lenten Program
Our 2009 Lenten Program will meet on Sunday evenings at 5:30 pm with a shared soup supper. Starting at 6:00pm. Each week our focus will be slightly different; March 8th we will look at hymns of Lent, March 15th we will look at hymns of Easter, March 22nd we will look at hymns of the church and faith, and March 29th we will look at hymns of Christian responsibility and mission. The evening’s activities should wrap up around 7:00 pm.

February 22, we launched the 2nd phase of the Sower’s Fund Project. Along with the display board in the undercroft, between services Sue Cox brought many of her hand-made unique, creative bags as inspiration for the “It’s In The Bag” project. A program or charity in the U.S. will be chosen as this year’s recipient of the Sower’s Fund and announced at Annual Council in November. Workshop dates to be announced soon. For more information contact Jane Stangl. 596-9477, tryjs@cox.net or Karen Gray at 339-5168, dynamoquail@msn.com.

Our prayers of thanksgiving are offered with those who are celebrating birthdays this week, especially: Shane Inks, Joshua Wallace (Mar 8), Judy Darrell (9), Sue Howard (14).